I went to do some errands with Manuel some days ago, and since it was a sunny day I thought it would be a good idea to stop for and ice-cream. While Manu was enjoying his melting ice cream I started checking my grocery list… bread, milk, noodles and …..

– MOOOOOOOOM Why is that man brown?– Well, because…..

I was trying to find the best answer when I heard:

– Hi brown sir! Manuel greeted.

OMG! Please earth, swallow me now, I thought. Why was he doing that? I was so embarrassed I couldn’t take my eyes from the list I had.

– Good afternoon little guy! The man answered laughing.

I really felt I had to apologize, so I looked at him and I said “I’m sorry, I don’t know why …….”

– “Don’t worry”, he interrupted me with a broad smile. “Maybe you haven’t noticed it, but I AM black”– “You’re right” I said, and we both started laughing.

Here in Uruguay, where most of the inhabitants are from European decent, the Afro-Uruguayan community is very small, only 4% of our population, if I’m not wrong. For that reason, you can walk long blocks without seeing a black person around. At school, Manuel doesn’t have any Afro-Uruguayan classmate and when Sebastián went to school, he only had one Afro-Uruguayan partner in six years. So no wonder why Manu was so curious when he saw the man.

– “You are not back”. Manuel said. “You are dark brown”

Oh Noooo, here he goes again, I thought to my self. This time I didn’t say anything because….

– “That’s true”. The man answered laughing loudly. And, what color are you?– I’m light brown.– So, we are not very different. What do you think?– Yes, we are……

I was just about to jump into the conversation when Manuel said…

– We are different because I’m a child and you are not. Why are you brown?– Because my family came from Africa loooooong long time ago.– When my mother buys a motorbike we will go to Africa.– Oh, Good idea! It’s a beautiful country.– Yeap. Good bye, I’m going to play now.– Good bye

On our way home, I remained in silence thinking about the lack of integration we have with the Afro-Uruguayan community. It shouldn’t be this way. Black people have influenced our music, our culture, our whole country in so many good aspects…..

– Mom, when we go to Africa we can invite our friend from the park.– Sure baby– Yeap. Then we have to buy a car, because the motorbike is too small.